Getting to Know You

Jack gets acquainted with Nicholas and Matthew

We witness a miracle every time a child enters into life, but those who make their journey home across time and miles, growing within the hearts of those who wait to love them, are carried on the wings of destiny and placed among us by God's very own hands. -Unknown

Pray for our children

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Long awaited photos.January 12, 2008 - The last day we had ANYTHING (save the lamp) on either the end table next to the couch, or the sewing machine behind the love seat. Our boys love to climb. We have tried everything to keep them off the furniture, including setting lots of pillows on top of the cushions to make it too tall for little legs, and nothing has worked. After having yet another lightbulb broken, and another remote/phone go missing, Mom & Dad finally learned that everything needs to be placed at adult level.

January 13, 2008 - A muscial genius in the making? Quite possible, thanks to Grandmommie and Grandpoppie and their gift of a xylophone for Christmas. (Not pictured are other musical instruments, like a drum, guitar and piano.)

January 14, 2008 - This is how breakfast, lunch and dinner get made around our house. Boy do they love this cabinet. Please note that any of the plasticware in this cabinet that gets used for food storage must be washed prior to use because they love, love, love to chew on it, sit in it, stand on it, etc.

January 15, 2008 - For Christmas Dan, Nicholas & Matthew gave me the gift of a "Baby Sign" class at Gymboree. We thought it began today at the Winter Park Gymboree. We were a little surprised when we showed up at 12:55, per our instructions, to find out that the class wasn't starting yet. (We do have a start date of 2/5/08 now.) It was "Open Gym" day, so the employees invited us to stay and play. We had a blast. The pictures we have from that day can't even begin to convey how happy the boys were at Gymboree this day. Pictured above is Nicholas.

January 16, 2008 - I'm cheating today, because I wanted to show how happy each boy was at Gymboree. This is Matthew on an elevated platform just crawling along. He had a blast!January 17, 2008 - Can you say, "Busted"? Oh yes. This is just a glimpse into what Jack repeatedly got into trouble for doing the last week. We may have dog hair on our floors, but Jack is explicitly NOT allowed on the furniture. I think that Thing One and Thing Two have been teaching Jack their bad habits. After being yelled at multiple times over three days, Jack learned his lesson and hasn't be seen sitting on any furniture. (Oh. Yes, the ottoman sits in front of the entertainment center to protect the glass and the boys from one another.) Too bad the kids aren't as easily trained as the dog.

January 18, 2008 -Day one of our cloth diapering adventure. The world of cloth has changed so much since our own childhoods. Other than having to do a small load of laundry every other day, using cloth is as easy as using disposables. It's also cheaper and better for the environment. An added bonus to cloth diapering is that the boys finally fit into shorts made for a baby bigger than three months. Seriously.

I could give the excuse Dan's parents were in town for just about a week to celebrate the boys' birthdays. But that's not a good one, since their being in town gave me plenty of time to do nothing while they played with babies.

I could give the excuse that I was sick, Nicholas and Matthew were sick, and my parents were sick, and that's why there have been no pictures or updates. But that was over two weeks ago, so it seems like a weak excuse at this point.

I could give the excuse that we had a lot of birthday celebrations in our house over the last week and a half. First Nicholas and Matthew. Then me. Finally Dan. And while having to celebrate four birthdays in seven days is a lot of partying (not to mention Red Velvet Cake), it's really not much of an excuse.

I could give the excuse that this month has been a little crazy for me working on Small Group stuff with Jason from Grace. (Also, I think next month will be a little crazy, seeing as how the church is launching the round of Small Groups on Sunday.) It did take up quite a bit of my "free time" - that time I have when both boys are sleeping in the mornings - so I could input about 100 people who wanted to take part in New Year, New You at church. But seriously...if I had time to do that, I certainly should have had time to post a picture everyday, right?

I could give the excuse that Dan and I are doing a lot of house hunting lately. Thanks so much to my parents for watching babies on a moment's notice every time we have found a new house to look at. Yes, we're looking, and yes we're serious about the hunt. Stay tuned to see what happens. Anyway, is house hunting really an excuse? I mean, after all, I'm sitting on the computer every night looking up new places to live. Surely I could post a picture.

I could give the excuse that Dan has still not had the chance to download ANY of the pictures he's taken since we arrived home from New York. Personally, this is my favorite excuse, and the most plausible reason that there haven't been many pictures this month.

I'm sure I could give plenty of other excuses as well.

Anyway, that said, I'm TRYING to get pictures that are accurate and relevent to this time in the boys lives. I could easily go back to some old pictures, but I don't want to do that...

Oh, man! I just remembered that I totally forgot the camera this morning. I should have taken it with me to document my solo journey to the polls to vote. Yes, I went with two boys in tow. No, I didn't have help. Was it a little crazy? Well, let's just say that it took longer to get the stroller out of the car, set up, and loaded with kids and then unloaded of kids, taken down, and put back in the car than it took for me to drive to and from the polling place AND vote. The sacrifices one makes to make freedom count. :-)

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Happy Birthday to the boys! Neither of us can believe they are a year old already!

I know I'm behind on uploading pictures. I did get Christmas pictures online tonight, and hopefully will catch up on the rest soon (including those from their birthday today). As always, they are at http://pix.tazman.net/. Keep watching that space as I catch up.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Yes, I know there are no new pictures. No, I probably won't post any tonight. Yes, I know I suck at this game! Yes, I'm taking pictures every day.

Maybe this weekend I will post pictures for the week. I think a better goal for me is to have one post each week with a picture from every day of said week. That way if I have something of content to post about, it won't get lost in the pictures.

That said, we're having a birthday tomorrow! Well, two birthdays actually. :-) I can't believe Nicholas and Matthew turn one. How time flies!

Friday, January 11, 2008

This little scooter was a Christmas gift from Grandma and Grandpa in Minnesota. While the scooter spends a fair amount in time out for various infractions, it does get used quite a bit. One of the things that is the most fun to watch with the boys when they are using this is the way they share. While it's almost always a race to see who can get to the scooter first, whoever loses the race will happily push the winner around the living room.

Both Matthew and Nicholas have learned how to maneuver the scooter on their own, and even if they are sitting on it backwards, they can each make it go forwards. We think that's quite an accomplishment, and so do they!

Thursday, January 10, 2008

My mom has a comic on her refrigerator showing a baby surrounded by baby gates, swearing that he will never live in a "gated community". One might say that our children live in a gated community, much like the baby in that comic. With having on big room in the middle of the downstairs, and lots of other rooms leading off of it (our bedroom, the kitchen, the foyer, etc.) we have lots of gates set up to keep the boys safe. Unfortunately, at dinnertime they really don't like the gates. Can you tell?

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

We keep our Cheerios in an old Pub Mix container from Costco. The container is so tall that it won't fit on the shelves in the pantry, which means it must be stored on the floor. Today I made the mistake of letting Matthew into the kitchen before securing both the pantry and the Cheerios.Just look at that grin!

Saturday, January 5, 2008

The boys absolutely love the two blankets they are sitting on in this picture. A wonderful person and friend, Debbi, made these blankets for Matthew and Nicholas months ago, and we finally connected just a few weeks ago. They are so warm and cozy that I find myself curled up on the couch using one at night. Without fail, if I pull the blankets out and put them on the floor, the boys immediately stop whatever they are doing, and pounce on them. Much laughter ensues as the boys roll around on them, crawl underneath them, and try to hide with them. These are truly a great gift, and we are so thankful! Debbi, the boys thank you every single day! :-)

Friday, January 4, 2008

No, unfortunately you can't tell that Matthew's shirt says "ADO(RED)", and you really can't tell that Nicholas' shirt says "INSPI(RED)", but they do. And I love them. The shirts and the boys who are wearing them. Even if I can't get them to both look at the camera and smile at the same time. But truly, they are two of the most adored kids alive, and they have inspired us immensely.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

This entry counts as only one picture, even though there are two to be seen. The first one was taken on 6/19/07, the day we adopted the boys. The second was just taken. I wish I could physically show you just how much the boys have grown in the last (almost) 7 months, because this picture truly doesn't do it justice. They may have only gained 5 pounds since coming to the US, but the difference in these strollers is simply amazing. What do you think?

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Happy New Year! No, you can't see it, but we were in the midst of a zillion people who all gathered at Time's Square to ring in 2008. If memory serves me, we were between 54th & 55th Street on 7th Avenue. (In layman's terms. no where near the ball itself.) If you held your hand up in front of your face, made a circle with your hand about the size of a Shooter marble, you would know about how big the ball was from our perspective. We were far enough away that we didn't even know it was falling until it was halfway down! It was fun though. The crowd was well behaved, no alcohol was seen anywhere near us, there were police EVERYWHERE, and we had Sniper's on buildings to protect us. :-)

I think everyone should experience a New Year's Eve in the vicinity of Time's Square. It really is fun.